Thursday, October 31, 2013

From historic times, Waikīkī was viewed not only as a place of peace and hospitality, but of healing. There was great mana (spiritual power) in Waikīkī. Throughout the 19th century, Hawai’i’s royalty also came here to convalesce.

The art of healing they practiced is known in the Islands as la‘au lapa‘au. In this practice, plants and animals from the land and sea, which are known to have healing properties, are combined with wisdom to treat the ailing.

At Waikīkī, Oʻahu on Kūhiō Beach, Hawaiian legend says Na Pōhaku Ola Kapaemāhu A Kapuni were placed here in tribute to four soothsayers, Kapaemāhu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and Kinohi, who came from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi (long before the reign of Oʻahu’s chief Kākuhihewa in the 16th century.)

Kapaemāhu was the leader of the four and honored for his ability to cast aside carnality and care for both men and women. Kapuni was said to envelop his patients with his mana. While Kinohi was the clairvoyant diagnostician, Kahaloa— whose name means “long breath”—was said to be able to breathe life into her patients.

They gained fame and popularity because they were able to cure the sick by laying their hands upon them. Before they returned to Tahiti, they asked the people to erect four large pōhaku as a permanent reminder of their visit and the cures they had accomplished.

Legend says that these stones were brought into Waikīkī from Waiʻalae Avenue in Kaimuki, nearly two miles away. Waikīkī was a marshland devoid of any large stones. These stones are basaltic, the same type of stone found in Kaimukī.

On the night of Kāne (the night that the moon rises at dawn,) the people began to move the rocks from Kaimukī to Kūhiō Beach. During a month-long ceremony, the healers are said to have transferred their names -- Kapaemāhu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and Kinohi -- and or spiritual power, to the stones.

One of the pōhaku used to rest where the surf would roll onto the beach known to surfers as "Baby Queens", the second pōhaku would be found on the ʻEwa side of ʻApuakehau Stream (site of Royal Hawaiian Hotel), and the last two pōhaku once sat above the water line fronting Ulukou (near the site of the present Moana Hotel.) In 1963, they were relocated to Kūhiō Beach.

One of Waikīkī’s places of healing was the stretch of beach fronting the Halekūlani Hotel called Kawehewehe (the removal). The sick and the injured came to bathe in the kai, or waters of the sea.

They might have worn a seaweed lei of limu kala and left it in the water as a symbol of the asking of forgiveness for past sins (misdeeds were believed to be a cause of illness and "kala" means to forgive.) Hawaiians still use the sea to heal their sores and other ailments, but few come to Kawehewehe.

From 1912 to 1929, a home here was converted to a small two-story boardinghouse, and operated by La Vancha Maria Chapin Gray, known as “Grays-by-the-Sea.” Its grounds were later incorporated into the Halekūlani. The beach is still known today as Gray’s Beach. (Kawehewehe is also the name of the surfing site called Populars, today.)

The natural sand-filled channel that runs through the reef makes it one of the best swimming areas along this stretch of ocean. It was dredged in the early-1950s to allow catamarans to come ashore at Gray's Beach. The channel lies between two surf sites, Paradise and Number Threes.

There was a Kawehewehe Pond; people with a physical ailment would come to the pond in search of healing. A kahuna, or priest, would place a lei limu kala around their neck, and instruct them to submerge themselves in the healing waters of the pond. When the lei came off and floated downstream, it was said that the afflicted ones were healed.

It was for this particular ceremony that the area was called Kawehewehe, which literally means "the removal." It was on the ʻEwa side of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (adjacent to Helumoa), just east of the Halekulani Hotel, Waikīkī.

Kawehewehe takes its meaning from the root word - wehe‖ which means to remove‖ (Pukui.) Thus, as the name implies, Kawehewehe was a traditional place where people went to be cured of all types of illnesses – both physical and spiritual – by bathing in the healing waters of the ocean.

The patient might wear a seaweed (limu kala) lei and leave it in the water as a request that his sins be forgiven; hence the origin of the name kala (Lit., the removal.)

After bathing in the ocean, the person would duck under the water, releasing the lei from around his neck and letting the lei kala float out to sea. Upon turning around to return to shore, the custom is to never look back, symbolizing the oki (to sever or end) and putting an end to the illness. Leaving the lei in the ocean also symbolizes forgiveness (kala) and the leaving of anything negative behind.

In the last days of her battle with breast cancer, Pauahi returned to Helumoa. Although the Princess could have gone anywhere to recuperate, she chose Helumoa, for the fond memories it recalled and the tranquility it provided.

Here she wrote the final codicils (amendments) of her will, in which she bequeathed her land to the Bishop Estate for the establishment of the Kamehameha Schools.

Further down the beach, Queen Liliʻuokalani found respite and healing at her Waikīkī retreats noting, “Hamohamo is justly considered to be the most life-giving and healthy district in the whole extent of the island of Oʻahu; there is something unexplainable and peculiar in the atmosphere of that place, which seldom fails to bring back the glow of health to the patient, no matter from what disease suffering."

The Queen "derived much amusement, as well as pleasure: for as the sun shines on the evil and the good, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust, I have not felt called upon to limit the enjoyment of my beach and shade-trees to any party in politics ... While in exile it has ever been a pleasant thought to me that my people, in spite of differences of opinions, are enjoying together the free use of my seashore home."

The author, Robert Louis Stevenson, also found respite, here. In 1888, his health had been declining; he was told by his doctor to travel here because the climate was good for his bad health.

Stevenson’s remarks in the guest book note: "If anyone desires such old-fashioned things as lovely scenery, quiet, pure air, clean sea water, good food, and heavenly sunsets hung out before their eyes over the Pacific and the distant hills of Waianae, I recommend him cordially to the Sans Souci."

From Kālia to Kawehewehe to Helumoa to Kūhiō Beach to Hamohamo to San Souci, there are many stories of the healing power at Waikīkī.

The image shows the healing stones of Kapaemāhu. In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

In 1841, on the makai side of the road (Merchant Street,) from Nuʻuanu to Kaʻahumanu Street (now the breezeway through the Harbor Court,) were empty lots, with blocks of coral for fences near the corner of Merchant and Fort streets, on the makai side of the street, were the premises of Mr. William French. (Maly)

French first came to Hawaiʻi in 1819. He settled in Honolulu and established himself as a leading trader. Financial success during the next decade made French known as "the merchant prince." He also had property in Kawaihae, on the Island of Hawaiʻi. There, in 1835, French hired John Parker as bookkeeper, cattle hunter and in other capacities. (Wellmon)

John Parker later purchased 640-acres (1850,) then another 1,000-acres (1851) and leased land in the Waikoloa region from Kamehameha III – these formed the foundation for the future Parker Ranch.

By 1840, French made numerous shipments of live cattle to Honolulu. These cattle were fattened in the pasture close to Waimea then driven to Kawaihae and transported to Honolulu to supply the numerous whaling ships that visited the port each fall. (Wellmon)

French’s Honolulu premises extended from Kaʻahumanu to Fort Street, surrounded by a high picket fence with some hau trees standing just within the line of the fence. The building was quite a sizable one of wood, with a high basement and large trading rooms above. Mr. French was one of the oldest residents and a person of considerable influence. (Maly)

The property was sold to James Austin, who sold it in 1882 to James Campbell, who owned the adjacent land on the Diamond Head side (fronting Fort Street.) He built the “Campbell Block,” a large building that included uses such as storage, shops and offices.

Merchant Street was once the main street of the financial and governmental functions in the city, and was Honolulu's earliest commercial center. Dating from 1854, the remaining historic buildings along this road help tell the story of the growth and development of Honolulu's professional and business community.

A great deal of the economic and political history of Hawaiʻi was created and written by the previous occupants of these buildings. Ranging from banks to bars and post office to newspapers, they have paid silent witness to the creation of present day Hawaiʻi. (NPS)

Today, we still see these remnants of the past: Melchers (1854,) the oldest commercial building in Honolulu; Kamehameha V Post Office (1871;) Bishop Bank (1878,) now known as the Harriet Bouslog Building; The Friend Building (1887 and 1900,) the site of the Oʻahu Bethel Church established in 1837; Royal Saloon (1890,) now Murphy’s; TR Foster Building (1891,) forerunner to Hawaiian Airlines; Bishop Estate Building (1896;) Stangenwald Building (1901,) the tallest structure in Hawaiʻi until 1950; Judd Building (1898;) Yokohama Specie Bank (1909) and Honolulu Police Station (1931,) one of the earliest police forces in the world, dating to 1834.

Then, in 1902, near tragedy struck when “One of the hardest fights in the history of the Honolulu Fire Department was experienced Saturday afternoon, when a fire broke out in the middle of the Hawaiian Hardware Company's warehouse. For two hours the whole block bounded by Merchant and Queen, Fort and Kaahumanu streets, was in danger.” (Hawaiian Star, August 25, 1902)

“The fire is said to have been caused by an accident with gasoline in the warehouse. An order for gasoline for Young Bros. launch had been received and was being filled.” (Hawaiian Star, August 25, 1902)

The Campbell Block survived (at least that fire.)

Then, on October 11, 1964, the Sunday Star-Bulletin and Advertiser noted, “Office-Parking Building Planned by Campbell Estate on Fort Street.”

Plans called for a combined office and parking structure to replace the 2-story Campbell Block on Fort and Merchants Streets; this new building was considered an important part of the redevelopment of downtown Honolulu. (Adamson) The new building was completed in May 1967.

So, the Campbell Block is gone … well, sort of.

You see, a fragment of the Campbell Block remains. It was interconnected with the adjoining Bishop Estate Building and removing it all would harm its neighbor; so, a part was retained in-place.

As you walk down Merchant Street, between Fort and Bethel (across from the Pioneer Plaza loading and parking structure access,) take a look at the (now obvious) sliver of a building; it was once the Campbell Block (and the area of the former establishment of merchant William French.)

The image shows the cast-iron pilaster fragment of the Campbell Block. In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Exalted sits the chief and from on high looks forth;
He views the island; far down he sees the beauteous lands below.
Much sought after, hoped for, the island as sought for is seen ...
Let him live forever. O let him live ...
Let the little chiefs under him live.
Let the father chiefs live under his protection,
Let the soldiers live who fought in former times,
Let the mass of people live ‐ the common people ...

Keʻāulumoku predicted “that Kamehameha would triumph over his enemies, and in the end be hailed as the greatest of Hawaiian conquerors. (Kalākaua)

His prophecy came true. Kamehameha I is universally recognized as being the greatest figure in the history of the Hawaiian people, and as being of significance even in world history. (Hawaiian Historical Society)

Many estimate that Kamehameha the Great was born 1758 in North Kohala on the island of Hawaiʻi (the exact date of the birth is not known.) His father was Keōua; his mother was Chiefess Kekuʻiapoiwa of the Kohala district on the island of Hawaiʻi.

Fearing for her son's life, Kekuʻiapoiwa, sent him to live with Kahanui and Kahāʻopūlani where Kamehameha grew up in seclusion. (Topolinski) Paiea, which means "hard-shelled crab," and Kamehameha, which means "the lonely one," literally defined Kamehameha's isolated childhood experience.

Kokoiki, Kamehameha's birthplace, means ''little blood,'' referring to the first signs of childbirth. Hawi, meaning ''unable to breathe,'' was where the child, being spirited away by a servant, required resuscitation and nursing. Kapaʻau, meaning ''wet blanket,'' was where heavy rain soaked the infant's kapa (blanket.) Halaʻula (scattered blood) was the town where soldiers were killed in anger. (Sproat – (Fujii, NY Times))

Word went out to find and kill the baby, but the Kohala community conspired to save him. The future King was carried on a perilous journey through Kohala and Pololū Valley to Awini. (KamehamehaDayCelebration) Some believe Kamehameha also spent much of his teen years in Pololū (Lit long spear.)

“Pololū is a pleasant village situated in a small cultivated valley, having a fine stream of water flowing down its centre, while lofty mountains rise on either side. The houses stand principally on the beach, but as we did not see many of the inhabitants, we passed on, ascended the steep mountain on the north side, and kept on our way.” (Ellis, 1826)

“The country was fertile, and seemed populous, though the houses were scattered, and more than three or four seldom appeared together. The streams of water were frequent, and a large quantity of ground was cultivated on their banks, and in the vicinity.” (Ellis, 1826)

Pololū is one of three primary quarry sites for the material for stone adzes on the Island of Hawaiʻi (Mauna Kea and Kilauea Volcano, the other two.) Stones beside the main stream in the valley floor were used. In general, the Pololū material is coarser grained than stone from Mauna Kea. (Withrow)

Pololū played a prominent role in Kamehameha’s later life. In 1790 (at the same time that George Washington was serving as the US’s first president,) the island of Hawaiʻi was under multiple rule; Kamehameha (ruler of Kohala, Kona and Hāmākua regions) successfully invaded Maui, Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi.

He sent an emissary to the famous kahuna (priest, soothsayer,) Kapoukahi, to determine how he could conquer all of the island of Hawaiʻi. According to Thrum, Kapoukahi instructed Kamehameha "to build a large heiau for his god at Puʻukoholā, adjoining the old heiau of Mailekini."

"When it came to the building of Puʻukoholā no one, not even a tabu chief, was excused from the work of carrying stone. Kamehameha himself labored with the rest. The only exception was the high tabu chief Kealiʻimaikaʻi (Kamehameha's younger brother).”

“Thus Kamehameha and the chiefs labored until the heiau was completed, with its fence of images (paehumu) and oracle tower (anuʻunuʻu), with all its walls outside and the hole for the bones of sacrifice. He brought down the ʻōhiʻa tree for the haku ʻōhiʻa and erected the shelter house (hale malu) of ʻōhiʻa wood for Kū-kaʻili-moku according to the rule laid down for the kahuna class of Pā‘ao." (Kamakau)

It is estimated that the human chain from Pololū Valley to Puʻukohola had somewhere between 10,000-20,000 men carrying stones from Pololū Valley to Kawaihae. (NPS)

After completing the heiau in 1791, Kamehameha invited Keōua to come to Kawaihae to make peace. However, as Keōua was about to step ashore, he was attacked and killed by one of Kamehameha's chiefs.

With Keōua dead, and his supporters captured or slain, Kamehameha became King of Hawaiʻi island, an event that according to prophesy eventually led to the conquest and consolidation of the islands under the rule of Kamehameha I.

In more modern times, Pololū played a role in other military means. During World War II, the US military established Camp Tarawa in Waimea, South Kohala, and trained over 50,000 servicemen between 1942 and 1945 – they were preparing for battle in the south Pacific (Solomon Islands, Tarawa and Iwo Jima.)

The Kohala Coast was used to simulate the coast of Iwo Jima, an island south of the Japanese main islands that would be the site of a bloody invasion and victory for the Marines. To maintain secrecy, the invasion target was called “Island X.” In addition to other training, amphibious craft staged landings in Pololū Valley, and endured live-fire training, all of which took the lives of several Marines during the Camp Tarawa years. (Paul J. Du Pre) (A remnant of a track vehicle is on Pololū Valley’s floor.)

Access into the valley is via a state Na Ala Hele trail (at the end of Highway 270;) a lookout offers spectacular views into the valley and the secluded Kohala/Hāmākua coastline.

The image shows Pololū Valley, from the lookout. In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Monday, October 28, 2013

It was originally known as Kumulae Spring (Pond - also Kapaʻakea and later Hausten Spring/Pond) and was reportedly the property of Kamāmalu (sister of Kamehameha IV and V.) She and her brothers loved swimming in the pond; they and others shared food and drinks there.

The spring is the subject of an old legend that tells of a wondrous princess upon whom men’s eyes were forbidden to gaze. The princess loved the waters of the spring and from time to time she would go there at night and bathe. In time, the waters of the spring became known for its healing powers. (Kanahele)

As in much of Oʻahu, geologically, the bedrock is actually reef limestone. Lava from the upslope Sugarloaf covered the limestone and cooled (with a thickness of about 40-feet.) After cooling of the Sugarloaf lava, alluvium and marshy lagoon sediments accumulated atop much of the limestone. A few inches of soil covered the top. (Halliday)

Groundwater flow cut through the limestone forming a karstic drainage system (Karst being a geological formation shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, such as limestone.) This region, in and around the lower portions of the University of Hawaiʻi, became part of the Mōʻiliʻili Karst. Caverns and perched water-table springs and ponds were exposed at the surface.

The best-known of theses ponds was Kumulae. By the early-1920s, Mr. Hausten purchased and cleared the land, and stocked the pond with koi which interbred with existing fish. The large clear fishpond quickly became a noted attraction.

It was the family’s garden home with beautiful tropical gardens of flora and fauna. Emma McGuire “Ma” Hausten was an avid gardener and planted white ginger, water lilies, plumeria from the South Seas, willow trees, kukui trees, breadfruit and fruit trees as well as Hawaiian herbs and medical plants.

The gardens thrived and people asked if they might use the tropical setting for weddings, luaus and parties. Finally, in the mid-1930s limited private parties were held. (Willows)

Then, ‘tragedy’ happened. In the autumn of 1934, the Hausten pond disappeared without warning, draining in less than 24 hours.

It turns out, construction activities downslope from the King-University intersection struck a master conduit in the underground watered cave system. Water drained out. Upslope, the results of this dewatering were dramatic.

The master conduit was eventually resealed, the cave’s water table temporarily recharged, but the karst was never the same again. There have been several instances of collapses since the dewatering. One instance in 1952 involves the Standard Trading store falling through the ground into the karst below it. Another instance involves the emergence of a large cavern downslope from the King-University intersection.

During World War II, times were tough. An offer was made for the property; but instead of selling, the family decided to serve light lunches and drinks. In 1944, the Willows Restaurant opened as a club by Emma’s daughter, Kathleen Perry, along with husband Al (30-year musical director of Hawaii Calls,) her brothers Allan and Walter McGuire and other family members. Together, they presided over a gracious era of Hawaiian music and hospitality during the late-1940s and 1950s. (Willows)

But after the dewatering, the historic pond was never the same, the continuing drop in the water table especially impacted the Willows Restaurant. The willow trees wilted and the restaurant lost its attractiveness and its customers.

New sinkholes developed. “People living in the vicinity made their way into the caves through holes in their yards and speared fish by the hundreds.” Several houses “lurched” and settled. Sidewalks cracked and water and gas mains ruptured. Some trees sank almost 3-feet. (Halliday)

The spring dried up and a remnant of the pond had to be lined with concrete. A manmade water feature surrounded by rock and plants has been built to recreate the ambience of the old days.

In 1998, the site was sold and restored. The Willows re-opened its doors on the threshold of a new millennium in 1999, after six years of being closed.

The image shows the Willows Restaurant and pond. In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Kī, the Ti plant, is a canoe crop, brought to the Islands by the early Polynesians. Kī was considered sacred to the Hawaiian god, Lono, and to the goddess of the hula, Laka. (ksbe)

It was also an emblem of high rank and divine power. The kahili, in its early form, was a kī stalk with its clustered foliage of glossy, green leaves at the top. The kahuna priests in their ancient religious ceremonial rituals used the leaves as protection. Ki planted around dwellings is thought to ward off evil. (ksbe)

Foreigners first fermented, and then distilled, the Kī root into an alcoholic beverage – due to the early means of making the drink, it took on the name ʻōkolehao (lit. iron bottom.)

“If people will drink, let us at least see, if possible, that they drink a fair article of poison. I hold that no man ever killed his wife when under the influence of good, generous liquor. It is the "tarantula juice," the ʻōkolehao, that does most of the mischief.” (The Friend, October 1, 1879)

It is said to have started when Captain Nathaniel Portlock, part Captain Cook’s crew in 1779, baked roots in an imu (earthen oven) to convert its starches to sugars, added water and let it ferment with wild yeast into a mild beer.

Later, William Stevenson, an escaped convict from Australia, is credited to have taught the native Hawaiians how to distill the beer beverage into a higher alcoholic concoction. (Kepler)

Archibald Campbell, in Hawaiʻi in 1809-1810, traced the evolution of ʻōkolehao from root to toot:
“(the root) is put into a pit, amongst heated stones, and covered with plantain and taro leaves; through these a small hole is made, and water poured in; after which the whole is closed up again, and allowed to remain twenty-four hours. When the root has undergone this process, the juice tastes as sweet as molasses. It is then taken out, bruised, and put into a canoe to ferment; and in five or six days is ready for distillation.”

“Their stills are formed out of iron pots, which they procure from American ships, and which they enlarge to any size, by fixing several tier of calabashes above them, with their bottoms sawed off, and the joints well luted. From the uppermost, a wooden tube connects with a copper cone, round the inside of which is a ring with a pipe to carry off the spirit. The cone is fixed into a hole in the bottom of a tub filled with water, which serves as a condenser.”

“By this simple apparatus a spirit is produced, called lumi, or rum, and which is by no means harsh or unpalatable. Both whites and natives are unfortunately too much addicted to it. Almost every one of the chiefs has his own still.” (Greer)

“ʻŌkolehao still caresses island palates after nearly two hundred years of open or clandestine production.” (Greer)

ʻŌkolehao is a drink that has long been made illegally all over the islands. At frequent intervals Collector Chamberlain or deputies raid stills in mountain fastnesses, and usually the stuff they are found to be making is a kind of ʻōkolehao. (Hawaiian Star, September 12, 1906)

The secluded recesses of the mountain valleys furnish ti root in abundance, water and wood for distillation, and more important still, that immunity from arrest which assures the safety of the business. The manufacture is almost entirely in the hands of the Japanese, who find a ready market among the Hawaiians. (The Friend, October 1, 1903)

“Old-timers praise ʻōkolehao as smooth and seemingly mild - the kind of drink that sneaks up behind one with a sledgehammer. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, who in 1822 described in detail a big ʻōkolehao distillery, denounced the product as "a bad but very potent spirit, something like rum in flavor.’” (Greer)

“Since the perverted ingenuity of some early beachcomber first adjusted a twisted gun barrel to an iron pot, and distilled from the root of the ti this liquor to which the French Republic through the Paris Exposition of 1899 gave a blue ribbon. … ʻŌkolehao has been recognized as something in which Hawaiʻi might well have a proprietary pride, because of its surpassing excellence in its class.” (Hawaiian Star, September 20, 1906)

“So strong was this appeal to Hawaiian loyalty, that even the Provisional Government in 1893, and its successor the Republic of Hawaii, in 1899 winked at the violation of law necessary to make worthy and appropriate quantities of it for exhibition at the Expositions in Chicago and in Paris, and when it was triumphant in both places there was a thrill of Hawaiian pride even in the Missionary breast.” (Hawaiian Star, September 20, 1906)

The first ʻōkolehao ever made under legal authority and by scientific methods is being experimented with by Collector Chamberlain and others, for the purpose of ascertaining the value of the ti root as a producer of distilled liquors. It is thought by some that the plant is a valuable one and, that there is money to be made in the distillation of liquor from it, though under the present laws of the Territory nothing can be done with it. (Hawaiian Star, May 16, 1903)

“ʻŌkolehao which is as Hawaiian as Vodka is Russian, as pulque is Mexican, as Bourbon is Kentuckian, and which is said by connoisseurs to excel them all in those fine points which go to make up a spirituous liquor, and to be freer from deleterious qualities than any other, is soon to be manufactured in full compliance with the law, to be put on the market on its merits, to be relieved of the stigma of … contraband, and to have its good qualities proclaimed. The still has already arrived; the "process of manufacture will shortly begin.” (Hawaiian Star, September 20, 1906)

The stuff was the Hawaiian version of bootleg moonshine. Today, DLNR’s Na Ala Hele program includes the ʻŌkolehao Trail on Kauaʻi in its trail system. It follows a ridge top route established in the days of prohibition, when ʻŌkolehao was made from the Kī plants from the area, some of which still remain alongside the trail route.

Under the old laws of Hawaiʻi, mere possession of the stuff was an offense, and until recently the Territorial laws absolutely prohibited any distilling of intoxicating liquors on the islands at all. The passage of a law to license distilling was immediately followed by plans for starting stills of various kinds, and the ʻōkolehao still is the first. (Hawaiian Star, September 12, 1906)

The first distillery legally brought here under federal regulations has arrived and Internal Revenue Collector Chamberlain has received formal notice of its importation, In accordance with the requirements of the statutes, the still is now on the navy wharf, having been landed from the steamer Korea. (Hawaiian Star, September 12, 1906)

The still is to make ʻōkolehao. The beginning of its operations will be the first legal making of that drink. EH Edwards, of Kona, is the owner of the machinery, and intends to start a distillery as soon as possible, to make the genuine ʻōkolehao, from ti root, of which there is a great quantity ion Kona. (Hawaiian Star, September 12, 1906)

Later, Hilo Hattie, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters sang about the cockeyed mayor of Kaunakakai, who "drank a gallon of oke to make life worthwhile."

The image shows a bottle of reportedly 60-70 year old ʻŌkolehao. In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Kamehameha I began a war of conquest, winning his first major skirmish in the battle of Mokuʻōhai (a fight between Kamehameha and Kiwalaʻo in July, 1782 at Keʻei, south of Kealakekua Bay on the Island of Hawaiʻi.) Kiwalaʻo was killed.

By 1795, having fought his last major battle at Nuʻuanu on O‘ahu with his superior use of modern weapons and western advisors, he subdued all other chiefdoms (with the exception of Kaua‘i).

Then, Kamehameha launched his first invasion attempt on Kaua‘i in April of 1796. About one-fourth of the way across the ocean channel between O‘ahu and Kaua‘i a storm thwarted Kamehameha’s warriors when many of their canoes were swamped in the rough seas and stormy winds, and then were forced to turn back.

With Hawaiʻi Island under Kamehameha’s control, conflict, there, supposedly ended with the death of Keōua at Kawaihae Harbor in early-1792 and the placement of the vanquished chief’s body in the Heiau ‘o Puʻukoholā at Kawaihae.

However, after a short time, another chief entered into a power dispute with Kamehameha; his name was Nāmakehā (the brother of Kaʻiana, a chief of Kauaʻi who had been killed in the Battle of Nuʻuanu.)

Previously, Kamehameha asked Nāmakehā (who lived in Kaʻū, Hawai‘i) for help in fighting Kalanikūpule and his Maui forces on O‘ahu, but Nāmakehā ignored the request.

Instead, Nāmakehā prepared a rebellion against Kamehameha to take place on Hawai‘i Island.

Hostilities erupted between the two that lasted from September 1796 to January 1797.

Kamehameha, on Oʻahu at the time, returned to his home island of Hawaiʻi with the bulk of his army to suppress the rebellion. The battle took place at Kaipalaoa, Hilo.

Kamehameha defeated Nāmakehā. The undisputed sovereignty of Kamehameha was thus established over the entire Island chain (except Kauaʻi and Niʻihau.)

This was the final battle fought by Kamehameha to unite the archipelago. (Kamehameha negotiated a settlement with King Kaumualiʻi for the control of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, in 1810.)

Although Kamehameha’s warriors had won the battle over Nāmakehā, they then turned their rage upon the villages and families of the vanquished. It so happens that this included the family of ʻŌpūkahaʻia, who had had supported Nāmakehā. They fled to the mountains and hid for several days in a cave.

The warriors found the family and ultimately killed ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s parents and infant brother. (ʻŌpūkahaʻia was captured, later trained as a Kahuna under his uncle, traveled to the continent and ultimately turned to Christianity and was the inspiration for the American missionaries to come to Hawaiʻi.)

Interestingly, it was about the same time of the Nāmakehā Rebellion that Kamehameha decreed Ke Kānāwai Māmalahoe (The Law of the Splintered Paddle.)

A story suggests that Kamehameha I was fighting on the Island of Hawaiʻi. Chasing a couple fishermen (presumably with the intention to kill them), his leg was caught in the reef and, in defense, one of the fisherman hit him on the head with a paddle, which broke into pieces.

Kamehameha was able to escape (because the fisherman fled, rather than finishing him off.) The story continues that Kamehameha learned from this experience and saw that it was wrong to misuse power by attacking innocent people.

Later, Kamehameha summoned the two fishermen. When they came, he pardoned them and admitted his mistake by proclaiming a new law, Kānāwai Māmalahoe - Law of the Splintered Paddle.

Oh people,
Honor thy gods;
Respect alike [the rights of]
People both great and humble;
See to it that our aged,
Our women and our children
Lie down to sleep by the roadside
Without fear of harm.
Disobey, and die.

Kamehameha’s Law of the Splintered Paddle of 1797 is enshrined in the State constitution, Article 9, Section 10: “Let every elderly person, woman and child lie by the roadside in safety”. It has become a model for modern human rights law regarding the treatment of civilians and other non-combatants.

Kānāwai Māmalahoe appears as a symbol of crossed paddles in the center of the badge of the Honolulu Police Department. A plaque, facing mauka on the Kamehameha Statue outside Ali‘iōlani Hale in Honolulu, notes the Law of the Splintered Paddle.

The image shows Kamehameha, as depicted by Herb Kane. In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Friday, October 25, 2013

After a decade of national prosperity in the Roaring Twenties, Americans faced a national crisis after the Crash of 1929. The Great Depression saw an unemployment rate of more than twenty-five percent in the early 1930s. (pbs)

As a means to make work, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) succeeded the Emergency Conservation Work agency, which started in 1933. In 1939, the CCC became part of the Federal Security Agency. It was eliminated in 1943. (UH Mānoa)

The purpose of the CCC and its predecessors was to provide employment in forestry and conservation work. It “brought together two wasted resources, the young men and the land, in an effort to save both.” (NPS)

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a program developed by Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal (1933) at the end of the Great Depression. During FDR’s inaugural address to Congress in 1933, he told the lawmakers in his first message on Unemployment Relief: “I propose to create a Civilian Conservation Corps, to be used in simple work, not interfering with normal employment, and confining itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control and similar projects.”

From FDR’s inauguration on March 4, 1933, to the induction of the first CCC enrollee, only 37 days had elapsed. The goals of the CCC according to the law were: “1) To provide employment (plus vocational training) and 2) To conserve and develop ‘the natural resources of the United States.’”

By the end of the third year, there were 2,158-CCC camps in the nation and 1,600,000-men had participated in the program. (NPS)

Although the Civilian Conservation Corps began on the US mainland in 1933, “it was not until one year later, [on] April 1, 1934, that the first units of this Corps began work here in Hawai`i under the direction of the Territorial Division of Forestry”. The Civilian Conservation Corps was defined by nine Corps regions. The Territories of Alaska and Hawaiʻi were part of the Ninth Corps Area. (NPS)

The goal of the CCC was to provide young men with jobs during a time when many were unemployed, times were hard, and starvation was a concern. (NPS)

It was estimated that 8 to 10 percent of Hawaiʻi’s young men were enrolled by the Civilian Conservation Corps during its tenure from 1934 to 1942. There were CCC camps on Oʻahu, Maui, Kauaʻi, the island of Hawaiʻi and Molokaʻi. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, NPS)

Each CCC enrollee was paid $30 a month and was provided with food, clothing, shelter and free medical care (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 18, 1942). Of that amount, $25 dollars a month was automatically deducted and sent home to their families. (NPS)

There were five primary CCC camps built in Hawaiʻi (the CCC Compound at Kokeʻe State Park, the most intact today; what is now a YMCA camp at Keʻanae on Maui; a research facility on the Big Island; Hawaiian Homes Property with only two buildings remaining on the Big Island; and part of Schofield Barracks in Wahiawa on Oʻahu.) Other temporary campgrounds were spotted in work areas around the Islands.

Their projects were numerous and included road and building construction, erosion control, masonry, firefighting, trail maintenance, vegetation and insect control among many others. One of the main goals of the CCC was to renew the nation’s decimated forests, so lots of tree planting went on. (NPS)

Within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (then known as Hawaiʻi National Park,) as well as many other parks and forests, much of the work that the CCC did is still evident and still in use. From the research offices to the hiking trails, the CCC laid the foundations for much of the infrastructure and roads that we see and use today in the Park. (NPS)

The old Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp in Kokeʻe State Park on Kauaʻi is a complex of eleven wood frame buildings surrounding an open grassed quadrangle. These buildings were constructed in 1935 and are sheltered on three sides by koa/ʻōhia forest. (Hui O Laka/Kōkeʻe Museum use and operate within these structures, today.) The CCC at Kokeʻe provided forest management, building trails, roads and fences, as well as planting over a million trees on Kauaʻi.

In 1934, the CCC took over the Keʻanae prison camp (initially built to house prisoners who worked at building the Hāna Highway.) CCC assembled men from other parts of Maui and other islands to plant thousands of eucalyptus and other introduced trees throughout the Hāna coast. (McGregor) Eventually, in 1949, the camp was acquired by the YMCA. Part of the land area continues to be used as a roadway base yard.

The CCC took over the Territorial foresters’ camp at Keanakolu (on the side of Mauna Kea, near Humuʻula on the Big Island) and expanded it into a field camp. The camp consisted of a bunkhouse that housed as many as 40 teenage boys, a mess hall, foreman’s quarters, and other service buildings. Another foreman’s quarters was added next to the koa cabin. (Mills)

Major duties included maintenance of trails, developing the Mana/Keanakolu wagon road into an auto road (placing cobble stones to form a single-lane road,) construction of fences to keep cattle and sheep out of the forest, and the planting of a variety of forest and fruit trees. In all, over 20-varieties of pear, 25-varieties of plum and 60-varieties of apple were planted. (Mills) By the 1940s, the CCC camp at Keanakolu was converted into a field station for territorial rangers and is now used by DLNR.

From April 1934 until May 13, 1941, the CCC operated a “side camp” in the Haleakalā Section of the Hawaiʻi National Park; CCC participants were housed in tents and moved to where the work areas were. (NPS)

Major park improvements through the CCC program on Haleakalā included the construction of the approximately 11-mile Haleakalā Road, Haleakalā Observation Station, two Comfort Stations (public toilets) and the Checking Station and Office at the park entrance. Several trail projects were completed within the Park. (NPS)

The image shows the Kokeʻe CCC camp in the 1930s (NPS.) In addition I have added other images related to the property in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

“In recognition of the truth of Joseph Lee's declaration, ‘A boy without a playground is father to the man without a job’, the Free Kindergarten and Children's Aid Association is making a valiant effort … to secure a trained playground worker for Honolulu.” (The Friend, April 1912)

Initially private groups, rather than public agencies, undertook efforts to build playgrounds in American cities. Some of the first privately operated playgrounds open to the public were established in Boston in the 1880s, but most cities witnessed a burst of private initiative in the following decade.

A major objective of private playground organizers was to convince city officials that public recreation ought to be a municipal responsibility. As a result, by the opening decade of the twentieth century most large American cities had established playgrounds owned and operated by municipal governments.

Shifting from an initial desire to get children off the streets, the playground movement evolved in the first two decades of the twentieth century into a well-organized and articulate national crusade.

Its proponents saw the playground not only as a refuge from urban perils, but also as a place of social reform. They believed play had educational value, and emphasized that it should be organized and supervised by the director of the playground.

The social mission of playgrounds was emphasized in playground literature across the nation and in Honolulu. In Hawaiʻi, as elsewhere, the goal of playground activities not only included vigorous physical exercise and mental satisfaction, but also the ability to work as a team member and to develop ‘a disposition to strive for high ideals.’

It was felt that playgrounds developed such virtues as: health, physical efficiency, morality, initiative, self-confidence, imagination, obedience, a sense of justice, happiness and good citizenship. At the same time they discouraged such undesirable traits as: idleness, temptation, exclusiveness, social barriers, selfishness, gang spirit, rowdyism, unfairness and delinquency.

Established in 1895, the Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association and one of Hawaiʻi's first eleemosynary organizations, offered the first teacher training program and free kindergarten to all of Hawaiʻi’s children.

The teacher training program was eventually moved to what became the University of Hawaiʻi, and the kindergartens were taken over by the Territorial Department of Education, allowing the organization to focus on serving younger children.

Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association established the first public playground in the city in 1911, Beretania Playground, at the corner of Beretania and Smith streets in the heart of Chinatown. It was intended for boys and girls under ten, and for older girls accompanying the very young, and the “play garden” was open seven days a week from 9 am to 5 pm.

Initially, administration of municipal playgrounds was delegated to existing agencies such as park boards or school boards. However, many cities eventually established special playground commissions, which often led to jurisdictional problems.

Largely through the association's efforts, a Recreation Commission was established within the city government in 1922, following the recommendations of Henry Stoddard Curtis, a former secretary of the nationwide Playground Association and the author of Education Through Play, who lectured in Hawaiʻi in 1920.

Julie Judd Swanzy, the president of the Free Kindergarten and Children's Aid Association, was named as the Commission's chair. The association turned its four playgrounds (Beretania, Kamāmalu, Atkinson and Aʻala) over to the city, and promptly opened five new municipal playgrounds: Kaimuki, Dole Park, Kalihi-Kai, Kauluwela and Kalihi-Waena.

By the 1930s and 1940s cities began to consolidate separate parks and playground agencies into a single “recreation” department.

The playground of the early twentieth century represented a significant departure from nineteenth century conceptions of a park. Rather than a carefully laid out landscape, planned as the antithesis of the cityscape, the twentieth century playground was usually of modest size and was conceived as a utilitarian space, sometimes embellished with landscaping effects or architectural detail, but frequently not.

The playground was a setting for supervised play and not contact with nature. The idea of the playground was to provide usable play space close to home in the densely populated sections of the city, not a green oasis set apart from the city.

During the 1930s, the City and County of Honolulu created a memorable set of parks and playgrounds. It was at this time that the concept of organized play in Hawaiʻi found its most architecturally significant expression.

Charles Lester McCoy, who was chairman of the Honolulu Park Board from 1931 to 1941, is remembered today as the “virtual founder of Honolulu's modern park system.” His personal commitment to parks, combined with his administrative ability to get things done despite the scant resources of the time, profoundly shaped the growth of the city park system at this time.

One of McCoy's most far-reaching decisions was to employ Harry Sims Bent as park architect in 1933. It is Bent's work that gives the 1930s parks their ‘art deco’ architectural distinctiveness.

Bent started to work for the Honolulu Park Board on the Ala Moana Park project in 1933. His work at Ala Moana included the canal bridge, entrance portals, sports pavilion, the banyan courtyard and lawn bowling green.

In the smaller parks Bent was often responsible for the overall layout as well as the structures, including walls, comfort stations and pergolas.

During the 1930s he designed the following parks for the City and County of Honolulu: Mother Waldron Playground, Kawananakoa Playground, Lanakila Park comfort station, Kalihi-Waena Playground, Haleiwa Beach Park structures, the Ala Wai Clubhouse and the Park Service Center by Kapiolani Park. (Lots of information here from NPS and KCCA.)

The image shows children with “Breathing Space and Wholesome Play” (The Friend.) In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

A 10-stop walking trail, sponsored by the Kāʻanapali Beach Resort Association, gives residents and visitors a little look into the past of this now-flourishing resort destination. Following is a summary of the 10 points of interest and a little bit about each stop (all of the content here comes from their on-line information on the trail:)

1. Kāʻanapali Airstrip and Windsock Lounge

From 1962 until 1987, the Kāʻanapali Airstrip and Terminal occupied this area adjacent to the beach, which was surrounded by cane fields. In fact, the north side of Kāʻanapali Beach became known as “Airport Beach.” In the early years, prop jet air taxis from Honolulu would land at the strip and were able to pull up to the Royal Lāhainā Beach Hotel.

During its last ten years, the airstrip was closed to general aviation and operated by Royal Hawaiian Air Service whose fleet of Cessna airplanes averaged 60 flights a day in and out of Kāʻanapali. The Windsock Lounge, as the name indicates, was located at the top of the terminal (whose interior walls and ceiling were covered with business cards from all over the world.)

2. Plantation Farm and Ancient Village of Kekaʻa

During the first half of the 20th century, this site flourished with mango trees and grasses. It is most remembered by local families for its pig farm, in which hogs were raised to feed the many sugar plantation workers. There were several plantation houses near the beach, where families of Japanese sugar plantation workers lived and maintained the farm.

In ancient times, the area around Royal Lāhainā Resort held the royal gardens of old Hawai‘i. A kalo (taro) patch and other food crops were cultivated here, aided by a freshwater spring. Kekaʻa was a fishing village nestled against the beach, where fishermen and farmers would gather bounty from the sea and cultivate lowland crops.

3. The Stones of Moemoe and Wahine O Manua/Wahine Peʻe

At the south end of Maui Eldorado Resort behind the tall hedge, lie two large brown pōhaku, or stones, which are steeped in legend. Over six feet long, the larger of these is called Moemoe and resembles a reclining or sleeping person. Moemoe preferred to lie down at Kekaʻa and sleep for his own contentment.

The smaller stone has been the subject of several legends and two different names. The popular name is the Hiding Woman Stone (Pōhaku o Wahine Peʻe) which relates to a love story between her and Moemoe, but there’s also legend of the abused, or fighting, woman (Wahine o Manua) who was hidden by the stone.

4. Kekaʻa Landing Pier

The Kekaʻa landing pier, that once stretched quite a distance into the ocean, operated for many years as the primary loading spot for shipping processed sugar from the island and bringing in supplies for the plantation camps. Railroad tracks led from the sugar cane fields to the beach, and warehouses for storage were erected near the pier.

Logs used for lumber were also transported to the pier, but would often be loaded into the water first. Submerged in the salt water, logs were left there to cure for a few months. Many plantation era homes were reportedly termite-free due to this method of wood preservation.

5. Pu‘u Kekaʻa and Chief Kahekili

This famous dark lava rock promontory is named Pu‘u Kekaʻa in Hawaiian (which translates as “the rolling hill.” It is revered as a sacred spot known as “ka leina a ka ʻuhane” - the place where a soul leaps into eternity. Each island has these significant places (usually at its western-most point.) This

It was also a point for lele kawa,” or cliff jumping. Chief Kahekili (ruled circa 1766-1793) was known to have jumped into the sea from heights of 300 to 400 feet. Here, he gained respect from many warriors, as most were frightened of the spirits who lived in the area. These days, every evening at sunset, a Sheraton Maui Resort diver gracefully leaps from the top of the rock into the ocean, symbolizing the great chief’s dives, as torches are lit for the coming night to honor the souls of the departed.

6. Chief Kākaʻalaneo and Legend of Kaululā‘au

Kākaʻalaneo was a high chief of the land at Kekaʻa (Maui’s capital circa 15th century). The chief reigned over a thriving community of many people, as his land was fertile and rich with groves of breadfruit, bananas, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, and taro. He and his wife had two children who were born here, their son Kaululā’au and daughter Wao.

The family kahuna (priest) predicted that Kaululā’au would be destructive, but that the lands would eventually be blessed by his strength and deeds. Kaululā’au would uproot young taro and sweet potato plants for fun. His father finally banished Kaululā’au to the island of Lānaʻi to live among the spirits there. Kaululā’au eventually rid the island of all the ghosts and later became the ruling chief of the island.

7. Koko O Nā Moku Race Track

This is named after the famous battle between two royal brothers who fought in the area; a race track stood right on Kāʻanapali’s sandy beach. The track stretched from Kāʻanapali Beach Hotel, past The Whaler and Whalers Village to The Westin Maui Resort.

It was built for horse racing, which was a favorite sport of many members of Hawaiian royalty during the Gay 90s era, as well as plantation owners and laborers. The race track thrived through the World War I era, until the last official race was held on America’s Independence Day, July 4, 1918.

8. Battle of Koko O Nā Moku

Upon great chief Kekaulike’s death, younger son Kamehamehanui was named heir to rule Maui. In 1738, his older brother Kauhiʻaimokuakama (Kauhi) began to wage war to win the title of ruling chief. Kamehamehanui engaged the forces of his uncle from Hawai‘i to fight with him, whose troops numbered over 8,000, and Kauhi brought troops of warriors from O‘ahu.

Battles were fought across West Maui, from Ukumehame to Honokōwai. The war ended with the most famous battle, Koko O Nā Moku, which translates to “Bloodshed of the Islands.” Over several days, the blood of fallen warriors from both sides flowed from the mouth of the stream into the shorebreak and caused the ocean to turn red. Kamehamehanui triumphed and ruled Maui in peace for many years.

9. Lo‘i Kalo (Taro Patch)

Across from the south end of Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club, at the 17th green of the South Course, the ground dips slightly lower. This area was used to cultivate taro (kalo) in abundant terraced patches (lo‘i) in old Hawai‘i. The Hahakea Stream flowed from the mountain to the sea; earthen berms were built up to channel the water between rows of this staple food.

Kalo is believed to have the greatest life force of all foods. According to the ancient creation chant, the Kumulipo, kalo grew from the first-born son of Wākea (father sky) and Papa (mother earth). He was stillborn and buried in fertile soil. Out of his body grew the kalo plant, also called Hāloa, which means “everlasting breath.”

10. The Owl Cave Legends

At the Lāhainā end of Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa is the mouth of the Hahakea Stream that originates way up the mountain. On Kāʻanapali’s South Course, near the Hahakea, streambed is the site of what once was known as the cave of Pueo, or the “Owl Cave,” the actual location of which is a guarded secret.

According to one legend, it was where Hina hid her son Maui so he would not be sacrificed; in another legend, it is referred to as the home of the guardian spirit owl who protected the villagers of Kekaʻa. The Pueo protected children from warriors by leading them to another cave located in Pu‘u Kekaʻa. They hid there, until the warriors became frustrated and ended their search.

The image shows the Kāʻanapali Historical Trail points of interest over a Google Earth image. In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Ka Lae is the site of one of the earliest Hawaiian settlements, and it has one of the longest archaeological records on the islands (included in the complex is the earliest recorded occupation site (124 AD.) (NPS) Ka Lae (Lit., the point, commonly called South Point) on the Island of Hawaiʻi is the southernmost point in the fifty states.

Kaʻū is poetically known as “Kaʻū kua makani” (Kaʻū with windy back.) (Soehren) An offshore stone at South Point is called Pokakuokeau (stone of the current) referring to the meeting of the different ocean currents that come together here. (k12-hi-us)

The Halaʻea current (named after a chief,) comes from the east to Kalae and sweeps out to sea. The Kāwili (Hit-and-twist) comes from the west and flows out alongside the Halaʻea. Woe betide anyone caught between. (Keala Pono)

Here at the point is a heiau, Kalalea Heiau, located in the ahupuaʻa of Kamāʻoa. In 1906, Stokes, in describing the heiau, said, “This heiau was … 43 by 35 ft., with platforms outside … adjoining its western wall ….” The heiau complex has a small terraced platform paved with ʻiliʻili (small, smooth pebbles.) When Stokes visited the heiau, an informant told him that the heiau was Kamehameha’s and was very sacred.

Ten years later another informant told Stokes the following:
“(This is the) history of the heiau of Kalalea at Kalae, and of Kūʻula, Wahinehele and ʻAiʻai. Kūʻula (a male) married Wahine (a female) and they had a son ʻAiʻai. They left Kahiki and came to these islands, settling on Kauaʻi. ʻAiʻai left his parents on Kauaʻi and went on a sightseeing tour to the islands of Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Maui and Hawaii.”

“When he reached Kalae, he looked around and saw that it was a fine country, and a nice place to live in and well supplied with fish. He returned to Kauai and brought his parents back with him, and they all lived at Kalae. While his parents were living at Kalae, ʻAiʻai set out for Kahiki and brought back many people, -- kilokilo (seers,) kuhikuhipuuone (architects who made plans in the sand) and ai puʻupuʻu (stewards).”

“He also brought back many different kinds of food, such as breadfruit, bananas, awa, cocoanuts, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, kalo, papaya, hapuʻu and pala (both edible ferns) and other foods in great quantity.”

“And when ʻAiʻai saw that the food and the men were ready, he gave commands to all the Menehune and the erection of the heiau went on until the walls were completed. It was named Kalalea, which name still stands today.” Today, people reference Kalalea as a fishing heiau. There were stones that represent the fishing gods Kūʻula and ʻAiʻai.

On the main platform is a stone called Kumaiea (female), but also attributed to Kāne, and on the smaller platform just mauka is another upright stone called kanemakua (male), associated with the god Kanaloa. Standing twelve feet to the north of the heiau are two more stones, the northerly one called ʻAiʻai, the son or Kūʻula. Within the heiau, beside the mauka wall, is a rock called Kūʻula, the god of fishermen. (k12-hi-us)

In 1953 Emory obtained the following information from Mary Kawena Pukui: “One must not wear red on the beaches at Kalae where Kalalea Heiau is located. Women never went inside the heiau. The kūʻula of this heiau is a shark. It is a heiau hoʻoulu (to increase) opelu (mackerel), malolo (flying fish), and ahi (tuna).”

Directly seaward of Kalalea Heiau is a rough ledge of lava, with low cliffs dropping into the ocean. About eighty holes (like cleats) are carved into the lava to moor canoes (either for positioning over fishing grounds or to tie-up to shore.) (Kirch) While many have suggested the heiau is fishing related, it appears to also have links to navigation.

Immediately behind the heiau is a modern navigational beacon. First proposed in 1883, a lens-lantern supported by a 34-foot wooden mast was ready for display on March 5, 1906. Its light, visible for nine miles, was produced by incandescent oil vapor.

After several modifications and improvements, the present 32-foot concrete pole was built in 1972. The automated, battery powered light is charged by solar panels.

In at least the 1940s and early-1950s, the military had a landing facility, Morse Field, in this area. There was limited infrastructure; the planes landed/took off on the grassy runway.

At a recent lecture at Mission Houses, I heard another series of stories related to Kalalea Heiau, told by John Laimana (a descendent of the area, whose family has direct association with the heiau;) while similar to much of the other explanations, he expands upon the navigational aspects of the heiau to Kahiki (Tahiti) and Rapanui (Easter Island.)

John says the heiau is actually the smaller of the structures there, makai of the larger, stonewalled rectangle (the larger he says is a fishers’ shelter.) More importantly, he notes that the heiau structure aligns east and west – and one wall aligns with magnetic north.

Equally more important, he looks beyond the heiau structure and also looks at the larger surrounding perimeter wall structure. Careful review of that shows the two walls are in precise, straight alignment.

OK, here’s another overlooked feature … extending the alignment of the walls, thousands of miles across the ocean lead you to Maupiti (in French Polynesia, near Tahiti) and Rapanui (Easter Island, Chile.)

In Hawaiian, Panana means compass, especially a mariner’s compass. Panana are also referred to “sighting walls.” The alignment of the walls (within the heiau and the perimeter walls,) may have been used for navigational purposes.

Oh, one more thing … Kaʻū is an ancient name with similar derivations in Samoa (Taʻū) and Mortlock (Marqueen) Islands (Takuu; an atoll at Papua New Guinea.) (Pukui) (This heiau may have links across the extent of the South Pacific.)

The image shows Kalalea Heiau (k12-hi-us.) In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Monday, October 21, 2013

“I am hungry for the work. ... I am not afraid of any disease, hence it would be my greatest delight even to minister the abandoned ‘lepers.’”

Farmers Peter and Barbara Koob had five children in Germany and five children in the United States. On January 23, 1838, their daughter, Barbara Koob (variants: Kob, Kopp and now officially Cope,) was born in the German Grand Duchy of Hess-Darmstadt. The next year, the family immigrated to the United States to seek opportunity.

The Koob family settled in Utica, New York and became members of St. Joseph Parish, where the children attended the parish school.

In 1848, young Barbara received her First Holy Communion and was confirmed at St. John Parish in Utica when, in accordance with the practice of the time, the bishop of the diocese came to the largest church in the area to administer these two sacraments at the same ceremony.

After her father’s death, Barbara, in August, 1862, entered the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis in Syracuse, NY, and, on November 19, 1862, she was invested at the Church of the Assumption. She soon became known as Sister Marianne.

As a member of the governing boards of her religious community, she participated in the establishment of two of the first hospitals in the central New York area, St. Elizabeth Hospital in Utica (1866) and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse (1869). These two hospitals were among the first 50 general hospitals in the US.

Sister Marianne began her new career as administrator at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse, NY in 1870 where she served as head administrator for six of the hospital’s first seven years.

In 1877, Sister Marianne was elected Mother General of the Franciscan congregation and given the title “Mother” as was the custom of the time.

In 1883, she received a letter from Father Leonor Fouesnel, a missionary in Hawaiʻi, to come to Hawaiʻi to help “procure the salvation of souls and to promote the glory of God.”

Of the 50 religious communities in the US contacted, only Mother Marianne's Order of Sisters agreed to come to Hawaiʻi to care for people with Hansen's Disease (known then as leprosy).

The Sisters arrived in Hawaiʻi on November 8, 1883, dedicating themselves to the care of the 200-lepers in Kakaʻako Branch Hospital on Oʻahu. This hospital was built to accommodate 100-people, but housed more than 200.

The condition at the hospital were deplorable. Each Sister-nurse learned to wash the wounds, to apply soothing ointment to the wounds, and to bring a sense of order to the lawlessness that prevails when there is abandonment of hope.

In 1884, Mother Marianne Cope and the Sisters of St. Francis came to Maui and with a royal bequest from Queen Kapiʻolani, established Malulani Hospital ("Protection of Heaven") in Wailuku, next to the site of St. Anthony's Church. Malulani was the first hospital established on Maui.

In 1885, realizing that healthy children of leprous patients were at high risk of contracting the disease, yet had no place to live, she founded Kapiʻolani Home on Oʻahu for healthy female children of leprosy patients. Because of her work, she was the recipient of the Royal Medal of Kapiʻolani.

In the summer of 1886, the Sisters took care of Father Damien (later Saint Damien) when he visited Honolulu during his bout with leprosy. He asked the Sisters to take over for him when he died.

Mother Marianne led the first contingent of Sister-nurses to Kalaupapa, Molokaʻi, where more than a thousand people with leprosy had been exiled. Upon arrival, on November 14, 1888, she opened the CR Bishop Home for homeless women and girls with Hansen's Disease. To improve the bleak conditions, Mother Marianne grew fruits, vegetables and landscaped the area with trees, thus creating a better environment among the residents.

While at Kalaupapa, Mother Marianne predicted that no Franciscan Sister would ever contract leprosy. Additionally she required her sisters use stringent hand washing and other sanitary procedures.

Upon the death of Saint Damien on April 15, 1889, Mother Marianne agreed to head the Boys Home at Kalawao. The Board of Health had quickly chosen her as Saint Damien's successor and she was thus enabled to keep her promise to him to look after his boys.

The Boys Home at Kalawao was completely renovated between 1889 - 1895 during her administration. During the renovation, it was renamed Baldwin Home by the Board of Health in honor of its leading benefactor, HP Baldwin.

The two new Sisters who came to run the Home were accompanied on their boat journey by poet Robert Louis Stevenson, who stayed for a week. During his stay, he wrote a poem for Mother Marianne and later donated a piano so that “there will always be music.”

Mother Marianne's spirit of self-sacrifice enabled her to live and work with leper patients for 35 years. Although there was not yet a cure, the Sisters could offer the lepers some semblance of dignity and as pleasant a life as possible.

Mother Marianne died in Kalaupapa on August 9, 1918. The Sisters of St. Francis continue their work in Kalaupapa with victims of Hansen's Disease. No sister has ever contracted the disease.

On December 19, 2011, Pope Benedict signed and approved the promulgation of the decree for her sainthood and she was canonized on October 21, 2012. (Information here is primarily from Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.)

The image shows Marianne Cope. In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Pā‘ao (ca 1300,) from Kahiki (Tahiti,) is reported to have introduced (or significantly expanded) a religious and political code in old Hawai‘i, collectively called the kapu system.

The kapu system was the common structure, the rule of order, and religious and political code. This social and political structure gave leaders absolute rule and authority. This forbid many things and demanded many more, with many infractions being punishable by death.

Shortly after the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) declared an end to the kapu system. In a dramatic and highly symbolic event, Kamehameha II ate and drank with women, thereby breaking the important eating kapu.

This changed the course of the civilization and ended the kapu system, effectively weakened belief in the power of the gods and the inevitability of divine punishment for those who opposed them. The end of the kapu system by Liholiho happened before the arrival of the missionaries; it made way for the transformation to Christianity and westernization.

While Liholiho’s brother Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) ruled as monarch (with shared authority with the Kuhina Nui,) he, too, took bold steps in changing the structure of governance. Kamehameha III initiated and implemented Hawaiʻi’s first constitution (1840) (one of five constitutions governing the Islands – and then, later, governance as part of the United States.)

Included were also published “penal laws,” which outlined classes of offenses and punishments for the same – with the death penalty being allowed for acts of murder.

“Many foreigners had predicted that whenever it became necessary to enforce the Penal Laws this enacted and promulgated, leniency would be shown towards chiefs of high rank.” (Bennet)

Then, there was enforcement and execution of the new laws on someone of rank, Kamanawa II (his father was High Chief Kepoʻokalani.)

Kamanawa, born during the days of the ancient customs with an unstructured approach to marriage, had found it difficult to live according to the increasingly Christian ways of his peers. When “one-to-one” marriage had been declared the law by royal order, his roving habits were not changed, and whenever he was attracted to a new love he followed his old ways. Kamokuiki (his wife,) adhering to the new faith, had little sympathy with his wanderings and finally went to the chiefs seeking a divorce. (Gutmanis)

As early as 1825, the chiefs in various districts had issued edicts of law that, following Christian teachings, included prohibitions against adultery and the biblical relief of divorce and the right to remarry given the injured party. And so it was with Kamokuiki whose divorce, dated August 16, 1840, stated: because Kamanawa has repeatedly committed adultery, his wife Kamokuiki has requested a separation. (Gutmanis)

There is no record of how Kamanawa received the decree, but six weeks later on September 26, 1840 Kamokuiki was dead. Murder being instantly suspected, an autopsy was performed and the stomach found to be "much inflamed while every thing else was in order." (Gutmanis)

Kamanawa and his friend Lonopuakau, captain of the Hawaiian vessel Hooikaika, confessed that Kamanawa had administered the fatal dose and that the Captain had prepared the mixture of ʻakia, ʻauhuhu and ʻawa that caused Kamokuiki’s death.

“She survived but three hours, medical assistance being of no avail. As soon as she was dead, which was about midnight, the news immediately spread and a terrible wailing commenced, which was quickly born to the other side of the island. It was so loud, so prolonged and so sudden as to awake at once almost all the residents, and at that hour, as its sepulchral cadences rose and fell, and were lost in the distance, the effect was startling and mournful in the extreme.” (Hawaiian Gazette, October 12, 1894)

Justice was swift; on September 30, 1840, a jury of 12 chiefs was empaneled to try Kamanawa and Lonopuakau.

On "Wednesday morning a court was held at the Fort, for the trial of Kamanawa and Lono, captain of the schooner Hooikaika, for the murder of Kamokuiki, wife of the former. Governor Kekūanāoʻa was the presiding Judge, the King and high chiefs being present.” (The Polynesian, October 3, 1840)

“The court being organized, the trial commenced, when the following facts were developed: The first-mentioned person, it appears, had been divorced from his wife for some time past, but could not marry again while she was living: Having conceived a violent passion for another woman, he determined to rid himself of his wife, and applied to Lono, who was said to be skilled in preparing poisons. Lono also wishing to destroy his wife, the two agreed to poison both”. (The Polynesian, October 3, 1840)

The jury found the two guilty and sentenced to hang on October 20th.

On the October 24, The Polynesian carried a short item that succinctly summed up the execution of the sentencing: “The murderers Kamanawa and Lonopuakau expiated their crime on the scaffold on Tuesday last, at the Fort in the presence of a large concourse of people.”

The site of the execution was over the gate of Fort Kekuanohu (Fort Honolulu – that once stood at the bottom of Fort Street;) the gallows was erected above the gate, so it could be easily seen for some distance.

After the hanging, either one or both of the bodies were buried at the cross-roads, in accordance with the old English custom of burying executed criminals where they would be out of the way, and the burial places be forever unknown. It is believed that the cross roads selected were at the junction of King and Punchbowl or Queen and Punchbowl streets.

I should note – Kamanawa II was no ‘ordinary’ ranking chief.

He was the grandson of Kameʻeiamoku, one of the ‘royal twins’ (uncles of Kamehameha the Great and his counselors in the wars to unite the Islands.) He was named after his famous grand uncle, the other royal twin. (The twins are on Hawaiʻi’s Royal Coat of Arms; Kameʻeiamoku is on the right holding a kahili and Kamanawa on the left holding a spear.)

Oh, one more thing … Kamanawa II and Kamokuiki were parents of Caesar Kapaʻakea. In 1835, Caesar married the High Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole; they had several children.

Most notable were a son, who on February 13, 1874 became King Kalākaua, and a daughter, who on January 29, 1891 became Queen Liliʻuokalani (they were grandchildren of Kamanawa II, the first to be charged and hanged under Hawaiʻi’s first modern criminal laws.)

It is said that after Kalākaua came to the throne, he had the body of Kamanawa taken up and the bones removed to Mauna Ala in Nuʻuanu. This is positively stated by the natives. (Hawaiian Gazette, October 12, 1894) Kamokuiki was buried at Kawaiahaʻo Church.

The image shows Fort Kekuanohu (on right, looking down Queen Street.) In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Fear of a repeat-attack on Pearl Harbor prompted the Army and Navy to plan a less vulnerable, bomb-proof complex, designed and built as an underground open bay with floor space for an aircraft assembly and repair plant.

Construction on the $23-million underground complex began in 1942 and was completed in late-1944. It was a free-standing structure that was later covered with 5-feet of soil for pineapple cultivation.

It was in immediate proximity to Wheeler Army Airfield and Waieli Gulch Field. (While Wheeler remains an active military facility, Waieli Gulch Field only lasted through the war - however, remnants of the runway can still be seen.)

The secret underground facility was constructed as an open bay area, without interior cement blocks. The outer walls are composed of reinforced concrete and dirt.

The entrance was placed in the steep side of the gulch to obscure visibility; access to the structure was by means of a quarter-mile-long tunnel. The access was built on a curve with a 90-degree bend, intended to provide protection for the entrance to the bunker, at the end of which were elevators for the different levels.

It was nicknamed the "Kunia Tunnel" or simply, "The Hole."

It is not a true tunnel; rather, a freestanding 3-story structure with approximately 250,000 square feet in overall size with a total of three floors. 220,000-square feet were available for assembly of folded winged aircraft (each floor was the equivalent of a football field,) with 30,000-square feet used for power generation and air conditioning.

The main shop was designed to provide space for three B-17 planes, two without wings and one with wings and was later modified to accommodate larger bombers. The work area was surrounded by smaller repair shops and storage rooms. To light the facility, it took almost 5,000 fluorescent tubes.

Two elevators serviced the field station - one capable of accommodating four 2 1/2-ton trucks or "an average size four-room cottage." For passenger service, another elevator was provided with a carrying capacity of 20-people.

It had a cafeteria that could turn out 6,000-meals a day. Huge air conditioning and ventilating systems ensured a constant flow of fresh air drawn from the open countryside.

One World War II soldier described the tunnel as "the great underground cavern". The soldier said the tunnel was "equipped with every modern facility and the three floors of the huge bombproof structure were found to be ideal for our purpose".

Aircraft including the B-24s, B-17s, B-26s bombers and other types were serviced in the bunker; these bombers were used in major bombing operations in the Mariana Islands, the Philippines, Japan and Okinawa. There is no historical evidence to suggest the field station was ever used for aircraft assembly.

After the danger of further enemy attack passed, this facility housed the Engineers’ extremely important map and chart reproduction services.

It provided personnel, information and communications support to the Pacific Theater and National warfare requirements; working with photographs supplied by Army and Navy fliers, they produced maps and aerial photographic mosaics.

These first "Kunians" were shift workers, working three, 8-hour shifts, making maps. They produced a staggering number of maps; in one month, more than 2,700,000-maps were printed and used by Allied forces in the war in the Pacific.

At the end of WWII, the facility was turned over to the Air Force. Then, in 1953, the US Navy officially took over the facility and used it for ammunition and torpedo storage; they then renovated it and converted the building into a secret security structure.

With renovations completed in the early-1960s, the Commander in Chief of the Naval Pacific Forces used Kunia as a command center. Further renovations to strengthen the structure against chemical and radioactive attacks were completed in the mid-1960s. The Fleet Operations Center was moved to another location in 1976, and the Kunia base was turned over to the General Services Agency.

January 1980, it became Field Station Kunia under Army control and later renamed the Kunia Regional Security Operations Center (KRSOC) to reflect the change to a more "joint" mission, with Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines assigned to the unit. It also hosted the other members of the “Five Eyes” (US, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.)

It is now known as NSA/CSS Hawaiʻi, an intelligence receiving hub for the National Security Agency; much of what goes on at Kunia is top secret. (Lots of information from the Army, Navy and Marines websites.)

The image shows the entrance to “The Hole.” In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Friday, October 18, 2013

A Cherokee Indian, John Neddles Anthony Chu Chu Gilman was born on August 1, 1777. (Chu Chu is a Cherokee name, not Chinese.) Some suggest he came from Natchez, Louisiana, or possibly Oklahoma. He arrived in the Hawaiian Islands about 1817. ("The Polynesian" Oct. 19, 1852.)

In the islands he was called Kuene, but also went by the names John Neddles and John Neddles Gilman (he’ll go by Neddles, here.)

He first married Louisa Piʻilani Poʻokui in March, 1820; they had four children. He was married a second time to Harriet Kapu Kewahaea of Kaʻawaloa, Hawaiʻi; they had four sons and one daughter.

Here’s a little side-story on one of the weddings. This is how Stephen Reynolds described his friend Ahung's wedding:
“April 19, 1843—Fine morn … Lord George Paulette (Paulet) and French Frere called on Ahung—took a piece of cake and glass of wine and went away. ... Evening Ahung was married to Miss Louisa Neddles by Richard Armstrong ... French & American Consuls, E & H Grimes ... and many others present. Came at 1/2 before 8 o'clock. Dancing at 1/4 past 8 til 11 … when everyone left apparently well pleased. ... April 26, 1843—Went over to Hungtai's to lunch many people in who were at the wedding.” (HHS)

Around that time, Paulet, representing the British Crown, overstepped his authority and seized the government buildings in Honolulu and forced King Kamehameha III to cede the Hawaiian kingdom to Great Britain. Paulet raised the British flag and issued a proclamation formally annexing Hawaii to the British Crown. This event became known as the Paulet Affair.

Queen Victoria, on learning these activities, immediately sent Rear Admiral Richard Thomas to the islands to restore sovereignty. The day began early that Monday, July 31, 1843, with soldiers and the public gathering at what we now refer to as Thomas Square.

After five-months of occupation, the Hawaiian Kingdom was restored and Adm. Thomas ordered the Union Jack removed and replaced with the Hawaiian kingdom flag. That day was known as Ka La Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day.)

Back to Neddles.

He apparently performed services for the early Hawaiian monarchy and was rewarded with some property in Pālama/Kapālama on Oʻahu.

Because of its proximity to Honolulu and its rich lands, Kapālama was frequently distributed by the king to foreign business partners, as well as to lesser chiefs. (HH&F)

Testimony before the Land Commission noted, “Claimant received this land from the present King in 1833 and confirmed in 1835 by Kaikioewa, then Guardian of the King and he has ever since held it without dispute unto the present. The land originally belonged to the King and that of Kaʻaione which is outside of it.”

Most of these houses in the area were hale pili (grass huts, common at that time;) however Neddles had a wood-frame house on his land. He also had kalo land with several patches on his property.

Upon his return from a voyage to the Spanish Main in 1847, he discovered that "squatters" had settled on parcels of land belonging to him.

A notice in the newspaper he made in 1848 informed the public that he opened a Butcher’s Shop – (Choice pieces for family use were selling for 5-cents per pound.) He owned the schooner SS Honolulu (a newspaper announcement he made in 1851 notes the ship simply as “SS”) and was engaged in shipping produce and cattle between island ports.

He published a notice in The Polynesian, March 15, 1851 – “Caution - All persons are forbidden to trespass upon the land of the undersigned, at Waikakalaua. Horses of cattle found trespassing after that date, will be proceeded against according to the law.”

Records indicate that on April 5, 1850, Neddles became a naturalized citizen of the kingdom.

John Neddles Anthony Chu Chu Gilman died at the age of 75 on October 18, 1852. (Amos S Cooke was Administrator of the estate – Cooke and his wife were missionaries who had been appointed by King Kamehameha III to teach the next generation of the highest ranking chiefs’ children at the Chiefs’ Children’s School (Royal School.))

The image shows a notice from John Neddles concerning trespass over his property. In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Kapunahou, the site of the present Punahou School campus, was given to Kameʻeiamoku by Kamehameha, after the Battle of Nuʻuanu. The land transferred to his son Hoapili, who resided there from 1804 to 1811. Hoapili passed the property to his daughter Kuini Liliha.

Sworn testimony before the Land Commission in 1849, and that body’s ultimate decision, noted that the “land was given by Governor Boki about the year 1829 to Hiram Bingham for the use of the Sandwich Islands Mission.”

The decision was made over the objection from Liliha; however Hoapili confirmed the gift. It was considered to be a gift from Kaʻahumanu, Kuhina Nui or Queen Regent at that time.

In Hiram Bingham's time, the main part of the Kapunahou property was planted with sugarcane by his wife Sybil, with the aid of the female church-members.

Bingham's idea was to make Kapunahou the parsonage, and to support his family from the profits of this cane field, selling the cane to the sugar mills, one of which was in Honolulu.

The other mill was in Mānoa Valley, owned by an Englishman; but he also made rum, and Queen Kaʻahumanu's consistent hostility to rum caused his failure, and also the failure of sugar-cane culture at Punahou. (Punahou Catalogue, 1866)

Founded in 1841, Punahou School (originally called Oʻahu College) was built at Kapunahou to provide a quality education for the children of Congregational missionaries, allowing them to stay in Hawaiʻi with their families, instead of being sent away to school. The first class had 15 students.

The land area of Kapunahou was significantly larger than the present school campus size.

While many see Punahou today as the college preparatory school in lower Mānoa, over the years, the school, though based at Kapunahou, also had campuses and activities elsewhere.

All students who entered the Boarding department were required to take part in the manual labor of the institution, under the direction of the faculty, not to exceed an average of two hours for each day. (Punahou Catalogue, 1899)

“We had a dairy, the Punahou dairy, over on the other side of Rocky Hill. That was all pasture. We had beautiful, delicious milk, all the milk you wanted. The cows roamed from there clear over to the stone wall on Manoa hill. There were a few gates and those gates caused me trouble because the bulls wanted to get out or some boys would leave a bar down … Occasionally, just often enough to keep me alert, there would be a bull wandering around across the road and down the hill onto Alexander Field or just where I wanted to go.” (Shaw, Punahou)

By vote of the trustees, the standard of the school was raised, and the course of study included a thorough drill in elementary algebra, Latin, colloquial and written French, and a careful study of the poems of Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Holmes, Bryant and Emerson. There is also regular instruction in freehand drawing and vocal music through the year. Lectures were given with experiments, designed to serve as an introduction to the study of physical science. A brief course in physiology and hygiene was given by the president of the College. (Punahou Catalogue, 1899)

In 1881, at the fortieth anniversary celebration of the school, a public appeal was made to provide for a professorship of natural science and of new buildings. President William L Jones in his speech expressed the need for Punahou to meet the changing times.

He said: "The missionaries when they landed here were all cultivated gentlemen, trained in the colleges of the United States, and they were unwilling that their children would suffer from their self exile into this country. ... A change has been coming over the aims of college education lately; people desire less Latin and Greek and more Natural Science, more Astronomy, more Chemistry, more modern language ... We have to teach Chemistry without laboratory, Astronomy without a telescope, Natural History only from books. More men and machinery is what we want." (Soong)

The appeal was so successful that the trustees moved to purchase the Reverend Richard Armstrong premises at the head of Richards Street (at 91 Beretania Street adjoining Washington Place) from the Roman Catholic mission for the Punahou Preparatory School (the property had previously been used by the growing St Louis High school.)

On September 19, 1883, the Punahou Preparatory School was opened for the full term at the Armstrong Home ... Three of the trustees were present at the opening exercises, together with many parents of the pupils, of whom there were 85 present, with a prospect of a larger attendance ... It is the design of the trustees to have no pupils at Punahou proper, except such as are qualified to proceed with the regular academic course. (The Friend, October 4, 1883)

By the 1898-1899 school year, there were 247 students in grades 1-8 in the Punahou Preparatory School campus downtown. Later, in 1902, the Preparatory School was moved to the Kapunahou campus, where it occupied Charles R Bishop Hall.

Near the turn of the last century, the Punahou Board of Trustees decided to subdivide some of the land above Rocky Hill – they called their subdivision “College Hills;” at that time the trolley service was extended into Mānoa, which increased interest in this area.

The College Hills subdivision, the largest subdivision of the time (nearly 100 acres of land separated into parcels of from 10,000- to 20,000-square feet,) opened above Punahou and became a major residential area.

Then, in January 1925, Punahou bought the Honolulu Military Academy property - it had about 90-acres of land and a half-dozen buildings on the back side of Diamond Head. (The Honolulu Military Academy was originally founded by Col LG Blackman, in 1911.)

It served as the "Punahou Farm" to carry on the school's work and courses in agriculture. "We were picked up and taken to the Punahou Farm School, which was also the boarding school for boys. The girls boarded at Castle Hall on campus." (Kneubuhl, Punahou) The farm school was in Kaimuki between 18th and 22nd Avenues.

In addition to offices and living quarters, the Farm School supplied Punahou with most of its food supplies. The compound included a big pasture for milk cows, a large vegetable garden, pigs, chickens, beehives, and sorghum and alfalfa fields that provided feed for the cows. Hired hands who tended the farm pasteurized the milk in a small dairy, bottled the honey and crated the eggs. (Kneubuhl, Punahou)

The Punahou dairy herd was cared for by the students as part of their course of studies - the boys boarded there. However, disciplinary troubles, enrollment concerns (not enough boys signing up for agricultural classes) and financial deficits led to its closure in 1929.

By the mid-1930s, the property was generally idle except for some faculty housing. In 1939, Punahou sold the property to the government as a site for a public school (it's now the site of Kaimuki Middle School.)

In addition to these, there belonged in former times, as an appurtenance to the land known as Kapunahou, a valuable tract of salt-ponds, on the sea-side to the eastward of Honolulu Harbor, called Kukuluāeʻo, and including an area of seventy-seven acres (this was just mauka of what is now Kewalo Basin.) (Punahou Catalogue, 1866)

It’s not clear how/when the makai land “detached” from the other Punahou School pieces, but it did and was given to the ABCFM (for the pastor of Kawaiaha‘o Church.)

The image shows an Oʻahu College Advertisement from 1895. In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

About Me

I am a lifetime resident of Hawai`i. I’ve been in the private sector for 30-years, 2-years in County Administration and 4 1/2-years in State Administration. Our firm, Ho`okuleana LLC, is a planning and consulting firm assisting property owners with land use planning efforts, including environmental review, entitlement process, permitting, community outreach, etc.
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About the historical posts … in an effort to provide brief background summaries of various people, places and events in Hawaiʻi, I make informal compilations from a variety of sources. These are not intended to be technical reference documents; rather they are assemblages of information and images from various sources. In many cases, specific citations and attributions are often omitted. The images and text in various posts are from various sources and are presented for personal, non-commercial and/or educational purposes.